AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND SALES IN CUBA
Written by Gilda Vega Cruz Photos by Cindy O'Hara
Cuba, for many years was an eminently agricultural country. Today, although other industries have developed -- tourism, biotechnology, raw materials and others -- Cuba still produces a diverse variety of agricultural products from its fertile soil: fruits, vegetables, root crops, beans, grains, etc.
PRODUCTION
In Cuba, agricultural production is carried out by both individuals and groups, in different types of entities. To be able to understand the different types of agricultural sales, we have to first consider the different kinds of producers.
Private Producers: Farmers who own their own land and farm it themselves or with their families.
Cooperatives: These are associations of private producers, landowners who join together into two kinds of cooperatives: CPA (Cooperativas de Producción Agropecuaria -- Cooperatives of Agricultural Production) and CCS (Cooperativas de Crédito y Servicio -- Cooperatives of Credit and Services). Both are distinct in their form of economic association. They are made up of private producers who decide to farm their lands together and make them more productive, dividing the final results among all of them. From their members, they elect their own directors and administrators. The State guarantees the purchase of fertilizers, cultivating equipment, and other needs.
A small Agricultural Market by the University of Havana.
UBPC (Unidades Básicas de Producción Cooperativa -- Basic Union of Cooperative Production): These are groups of individual farmers who want to join together for a specific production. The State provides the land on which the cooperativeoperates; the participants name their own directors and oversee the work. The ownership of the land remains with the State, but the results of the work are shared among the members of the cooperative. In cases where the UBPC does not make the land productive, the land is taken from them and provided to another group.
In each of these three preceding cases, the producers are obligated to sell between 70-80% of their planned production to the government. The rest of the production, and any surplus, can be used for the producers' personal use, or sold in the Agricultural Markets.
Parceleros: There are two basic types. In strategic production like tobacco, coffee and other such products, land is given to individual producers who cultivate these products. The land is the property of the State but the results of the work belong to the producer. The crops produced must be sold in their totality to the State. A second type of parcelero are those that are permitted to farm land inside the cities, primarily to cultivate vegetables, but also any other product. In these cases also, the land is State property, but these parceleros can sell all of their products to the public or consume it themselves, without giving any to the government.
Young Army of Work: The Armed Forces have special units that are dedicated to farming so they can be self sufficient, and the surplus of this production is sold to the civilian population in different ways. The land and the results of this production belong to the State.
An example of urban agriculture in the city of Sancti Spiritus.
State Farms: These are units of state production where farm workers work for a salary. These are dedicated to production that serves the interests of the country such as the production of cattle, pigs and poultry, and additional production of other products. Here also, the land and the results of the production belong to the State.
Text (c) 2001 G. Vega
Photos (c) 2001 C. O'Hara